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St. Augustine tops Nease to earn first hoops win of the season

St. Augustine's Richard Bryson goes up for a dunk during Friday's game against Nease. The Yellow Jackets won 50-48 and improved to 1-3 on the season.

With some early pressure and a little help from a familiar name, St. Augustine edged Nease 50-48 on Friday night to earn its first victory of the season.

The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, only to have their lead cut to 10 entering the final frame and down to a single basket as the Panthers made a late run. But as much is to be expected when these two schools play.

“You’re going to get games like this in a rivalry matchup no matter what our teams are like at any given time,” St. Augustine coach Tim Winter said.

With the score at 47-45 after a basket from Panthers senior Chris Johnson, Nease (3-1) had a chance to tie or take the lead from St. Augustine (1-3) with less than two minutes left in the game. But as he had done so often in his career as a Yellow Jackets football player, D.A. Williams intercepted a pass — this one from the hands of Kyle Cooper from the baseline — to get St. Augustine the ball back and stop the threat.

The Jackets would add three more points to create a bit of breathing room and enough distance to let a 3-pointer fall by Cooper without changing the outcome of the game.

Despite the loss, Panthers coach Scott Cooper was proud of the way his team responded to adversity. Nease returned only one starter from last season, Cooper, and will rely on 6-foot-7 freshman Austin Williams for an inside presence.

“Honestly, there was nothing I didn’t like tonight,” Cooper said. “Some people thought we were going to lose by 20 or 30 points, but our freshmen guys showed up in the post and kept them honest. Cooper drew a lot of attention getting face-guarded all night and was still able to put down some 3-pointers. And the other players, guys who were playing in middle school last year, came out and played well. There was a lot of maturity shown.”

That aforementioned rivalry has taken a hit ever since the student base was split between Nease and the newly built Ponte Vedra, at least with the players. Neighborhoods in the northern swatch of St. Johns County are now divided amongst themselves, no longer needing a rival to the south to satisfy that void.

Cooper still approaches each game against St. Augustine the same way, even if his players don’t implicitly understand the importance of each meeting.

“I don’t think the players understand the rivalry the same way me and Tim (Winter) do,” Cooper said. “Once the school split, they had guys in their neighborhood playing for Ponte Vedra so they think the rivalry is over there now. But coming in, I still try to remind them what this game means to the coaches, at least.”

Richard Bryson, St. Augustine’s lone returning player who received first team All-County honors last year, finished the game with 10 points and a key play of his own to secure the Jackets victory. After senior Lamar Berk missed a free throw to put the home team up by four points, Bryson cleaned up the rebound and scored on a put-back to make it a five-point game.

“Some people expected a lot out of me this year after being named to the All-County team, but for me all I focused on was getting better defensively and helping us win games,” Bryson said.

Winter expected that kind of performance from Bryson, though he was disappointed at times with the play of his front court. Rebounding was basically equally between the two teams, a surprise for St. Augustine’s bigger and more experienced athletes with Berk and senior Jordan Boston leading the way.

“Tonight we had a little better defense going than we had in our previous three games, but I was a little bit frustrated with our play in the post at times,” Winter said. “I think that’s going to be a strength of our team this season and at times I thought they were playing a little soft. But I’d still put our front line against anyone’s in the county pound for pound. We’ve got some potential there.”

Berk led all St. Augustine scorers with 11 points. Nick Stultz made three 3-point shots, and point guard Louis Williams finished the game with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.